Liver is an organ having a predominant function of metabolism in the body, and not only plays a role in deoxidation, storage of glycogen and synthesis of secretory proteins etc. in vivo, but also has a function of producing bile in the digestive system. Hepatopathy is a lesion occurring in the liver, which may be induced by a variety of causes. Hepatopathy is always one of killers that would be harmful to human health. So far, once the patients suffer from liver cancer or cirrhosis, it is difficult to save them even using the most advanced medical means. The etiology of hepatopathy is complicated. According to the etiology and some clinical manifestations of hepatopathy, it can be divided into the following: viral hepatitis, such as hepatitis A, hepatitis B, etc.; alcoholic liver disease, such as fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, liver fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, etc. 90% to 95% of human intake of ethanol is metabolized by the liver. Upon entering into hepatic cells, ethanol is oxidized by liver alcohol dehydrogenase, hydrogen peroxide decomposition enzyme and liver microsomal alcohol oxidase to form acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde has significant toxic and side effects on hepatic cells to hinder metabolism, leading to the degeneration and necrosis of hepatic cells. Alcohol consumption and frequency of drinking determine the extent of liver damage. It is estimated that there are around 15 million to 20 million alcoholics all over the world, 10%-20% of which (1.5 million to 4 million) suffer from different degree of alcoholic liver disease. The early-stage patient with alcoholic liver disease may show no symptoms at all, but at this time, the liver tissue has undergone pathologic change. With the increasing development of social life and the accelerated pace of life, alcoholic liver disease is also becoming younger in average age and more popular. A lot of people around are talking about fatty liver, known as an “illness of affluence”, which has been gradually becoming more common and poses serious threat to people's health. It becomes the second largest hepatopathy after viral hepatitis and has been recognized as a common cause of concealed cirrhosis. Meanwhile, fatty liver can aggravate the primary pathological changes and easily induce or aggravate diseases such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, even lead to occurrence of liver cancer. Unhealthy dietary habits are often the chief culprit leading to fatty liver, thus people should pay more attention to their diet in daily life.
In recent years, hangover drinks and foods, such as hangover pills, hangover sugar, chewing tablets and oral liquid have been successfully developed. However, the majority of such products do not show obvious effect, and they are of high cost and expensive, belonging to high-end consumer goods, thus there are certain market limitations. After several years of in-depth study, a hangover product, i.e. corn oligopeptide food, stands out due to the fact that it is of lower cost and healthier. Ethanol in the liver of human body is catabolized by ethanol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, and more than 90% of ethanol is absorbed by the liver. Corn oligopeptide can promote biochemical reactions in the metabolic pathway of alcohol dehydrogenase in vivo, and thereby reducing the concentration of ethanol in the blood. Such new hangover agent is prepared by hydrolyzing corn germ meal by alkaline protease, filtrating, and formulating with suitable excipients such as amino acids and vitamins, and can exert effectively dealcoholic and hepatoprotective functions. A study has shown that, after spontaneously hypertensive rats with stroke tendency were fed with corn peptide and ethanol successively, by comparison with the control, it was found that the contents of ethanol and its oxidative product acetaldehyde in the blood were significantly reduced. The human trials gave the same result that the content of ethanol in the blood was relatively significantly reduced, while the contents of Ala, Leu, Pro in the plasma had a substantial increase and maintained a high level for 2 hours. Corn peptide plays a positive role on alcohol metabolism by increasing the concentration of alanine and leucine in the blood and producing stable NAD+.